Kutztown Church May Pave Over Graves

The years have taken their toll on the marble memorial since Levan's burial 145 years ago. The message on the stone in the quiet Kutztown cemetery is nearly illegible, but with effort, one can distinguish it, and it appears to be a warning:

But the green grass, which has covered the cemetery since the late 1700s, may soon be replaced by asphalt if a judge, at a Feb. 3 hearing, rules in favor of St. John's United Church of Christ.

The church is seeking court permission to remove 430 headstones and pave over most of the burial site.

The proposal to turn the church-owned property into a parking lot has stirred up emotions in Kutztown in a debate over the value of history and the parking needs of worshippers.

Several veterans are among residents who hope history doesn't lose out. The cemetery contains dozens of veterans' gravestones, dating back to the Revolutionary War.

The church at 257 W. Walnut St. needs the space because there is not enough parking to support a growing congregation of 600, said the Rev. Harry L. Serio, senior pastor at St. John's.

Many of the gravestones aren't over remains, he said. Some stones were moved there when the church built an extension in 1960.

Serio said builders removed stones from what was then two-thirds of the cemetery, built over the burial sites, and mixed the tombstones among the graves that remained.

"I've given it a lot of thought," Serio said, "and my final feeling is that if they chose to be buried this close to the church, they had a love of the church, and I would think they would want us to do what's best for the church."

He said the congregation considered other options, including buying a nearby store, houses and an American Legion building. He said the price was not practical.

The congregation discussed relocating to a rural area, Serio said, but decided it would never be able to sell the building without adequate parking space. The church has no off-street parking.

Serio said there is a chance the church could work out a parking deal with the Kutztown Fairgrounds a few blocks away, but that is too far for some of the older members of the congregation to walk.

So St. John's is taking its case before Berks County Judge Scott D. Keller at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 3 at the courthouse in Reading.

"There is some obscure law in the (Pennsylvania) statutes which says you need court approval before you do anything to a cemetery," Keller said.

The church is waiting to clear that hurdle before filing a proposal to the Zoning Hearing Board, said Richard Diehm, the borough's code enforcement officer.

He said the church would be permitted to build a small parking lot but, would need a variance to pave over more than 25 percent of the property. He said its chances of receiving the variance are "50-50," because of opposing viewpoints on the board.

Judge Keller said he granted permission for a church in Morgantown to construct a playground over a cemetery six years ago.

"There was no opposition that time," he said, but he expects some next month when he hears the St. John's case.

Members of the Berks County Association for Graveyard Preservation are planning to object, said Jacqueline Nein, executive director.

She said the organization won't take an official position because it is designed to preserve rural gravesites, not ones beside churches. But she said individual members are outraged.

"I am willing to hear what they have to say, but my initial feeling is this is very wrong," she said.

Kutztown native William Fox is worried that not enough people will show up at the hearing.

He said he'll make his views known to the judge because he has seen too much of the town's history erased by development and he dreads the thought of the cemetery's destruction.

"To me, this would be just like tearing pages out of a history book," said Fox, a World War II veteran.

Fox said he sees empty parking spots within walking distance every Sunday morning, and said he knows only a small portion of the congregation's 600 attends. Serio said average attendence is 150, but will rise to over 300 on holidays. "They say that it isn't economically feasible to buy other property," Fox said, "but when you're talking about destroying a cemetery, dollar bills shouldn't come into consideration."

Irwin Kramer agrees.

"This just isn't right," said the Kutztown VFW member as he walked through the marble rows, past markers planted in the ground to honor those who served in wartime. Kramer said he places flags on the graves of veterans in the cemetery each Memorial Day.

According to community records, at least 78 veterans are buried in St. John's and the adjacent Hope cemetery. Hope is a privately owned burial ground that opened in the 1960s. Serio said it would not be touched during renovations.